We examine why the Earth's constant spin goes completely unnoticed by the people living on it. We think about it and then ...

Human engineering appears to have moved the planet, literally. According to new research published this month, the global boom in dam construction over the past two centuries has caused measurable ...

Earth rotates once in about 24 hours with respect to the Sun, but once every 23 hours, 56 minutes and 4 seconds with respect to other distant stars. Scientists call this difference crucial to ...

If you haven’t accomplished as much this summer as you had hoped to, you can blame forces far beyond your control: a few of these dog days, by one measure, are among the shortest you’ve ever lived ...

Russell has a PhD in the history of medicine, violence, and colonialism. His research has explored topics including ethics, science governance, and medical involvement in violent contexts. Russell has ...

Last Word is New Scientist’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To ...

The answer, obviously, is really, really fast. Here, Universe Today‘s Fraser Cain tells us exactly how fast, and gives us answers to a few other things you may have wondered about before. For instance ...

It’s no wonder that the uneducated minds of antiquity—and some simpletons today—were anthropocentric. The Sun, the Moon, and the entire sky seem to revolve around us. We are so special, they thought.

Which way does the Earth rotate? That e-mail question comes from William in Milan, a viewer who says he has heard both clockwise and counterclockwise. A general statement concerning the direction of ...

Last Word is New Scientist’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical hypotheticals. To ...